Starter Carey Price aggravated a lower-body injury while helping Canada to the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and has not played a game since the NHL schedule resumed last week.

Peter Budaj has performed relatively well in Price's absence, going 2-1-1 with a 2.87 goals-against average and an .890 save percentage in four games.

The Canadiens called up Dustin Tokarski from Hamilton of the American Hockey League to serve as Budaj's backup while Price has been out.

The Canadiens become Dubnyk's third team of the season after he was traded by the Edmonton Oilers to the Predators on Jan. 15 in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks. Dubnyk was placed on waivers by the Predators on Monday but was not claimed.

Price practiced Tuesday for the first time since his return from Sochi and said his absence was a preventive measure. He said he aggravated the injury during his second practice in Sochi and that it was manageable, but he wanted to make sure he was 100 percent entering the home stretch with the Canadiens.

He said if he sustained the same injury during the Stanley Cup Playoffs it would not cause him to miss a game.

He's only 17 but he can see the ice so well and he moves the puck and goes to the open ice all the time, so I just think he's a player that is ready to play in the NHL. I'm really looking forward to coaching someone like this.

— U.S. National Junior Team coach Ron Wilson on Auston Matthews, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft